Michigan prolife legislation scheduled for activity
A group of prolife bills are on their way to becoming laws

The Michigan Legislature will be busy this lame-duck session voting on a variety of pro-life bills that are expected to go to the House and Senate floors before the end of the year. Prolife citizens should prepare to contact their representatives and senators in the next few weeks to request their votes for the many prolife bills that will help Michigan create a culture that respects life. Check the Right to Life of Michigan web site at www.rtl.org for further information and details on how to contact your legislators.

Informed Consent before abortion
Before the end of the year, the Michigan Legislators will likely pass a new version of the informed consent bill introduced by the late Rep. Janet Kukuk, H.B. 5548. This bill is designed to close loopholes that abortion clinics have exploited under the language of the original bill. The new version will ensure that women obtain accurate information about fetal development as well as possible complications and effects that may result from having an abortion. This bill is expected to pass the Senate and then go back to the House for concurrence.

Keeping abortion coverage out of basic health insurance plans
Reps. Lauren Hager, Mark Jansen, and Robert Gosselin introduced H.B. 4828-30 which would remove abortion from standard insurance plans and require that abortion coverage only be available through an optional rider. Currently, most standard health insurance plans cover elective abortion, which means prolifers are being forced to subsidize abortion. Abortion coverage would still be available through an optional rider so that only those who agree with abortion and feel they want the coverage would be paying for abortions. Rep. Alan Sanborn is expected to hold a House committee hearing on these bills.

Wrongful birth lawsuits
S.B. 1170 is a wrongful birth/pregnancy bill introduced by Sen. Bill VanRegenmorter. “Wrongful birth” lawsuits arise when parents of a disabled child sue a physician or other health care provider for failing to test for, or prenatally diagnose the child’s disability, information the parents claim would have led them to abort the child. A wrongful birth suit seeks to recover costs of raising the disabled child because the parents were ‘denied the opportunity’ to abort the child. This bill would make it illegal for these cases to be brought to court. This bill has already passed in the Senate. Rep. Andrew Richner expects to conduct a House committee hearing on the bill.

Planned Parenthood funding
Planned Parenthood currently receives funding from the Michigan government to help conduct the beneficial services provided, such as pap smears, cancer screening, and STD testing. However, Planned Parenthood is also the largest provider of abortions in the United States and has a powerful political arm that spends millions of dollars campaigning against prolife candidates and lobbying against prolife bills.

H.B. 5934 has been introduced by Rep. Jansen to redirect funding to other agencies that provide the beneficial services such as cancer screening without providing abortions or campaigning against prolife candidates. The bill would simply give funding priority to those agencies that provide true family planning services without abortion. In areas where only Planned Parenthood is available to provide these services, it would still be eligible to receive funding. The House Family and Children Services Committee is expected to hold a hearing on this bill.

Addressing late term miscarriages
H.B. 5817-18 were introduced by Rep. Jellema in an effort to assist the state in showing more compassion to families that lose their babies through late-term miscarriages. The bills would change the current death form so that it is more sensitive to the grieving family and that a copy of the form would be available to the family. The bills would also amend the tax code allowing families to take a one-time tax exemption in the year of the miscarriage to help alleviate some of the financial burdens incurred.

Health care providers right of conscience
Rep. Ehardt introduced H.B. 5290, a bill designed to protect medical professionals and students from being required to participate in medical practices in disagreement with their personal philosophies. The bill would ensure that pharmacists, doctors, and students would not lose their positions as a result of a conscionable objection to a procedure such as performing an abortion. This bill also looks to the future when doctors and students may be required to use fetal parts for research. The bill is designed to protect the conscience of health care workers in a variety of situations.

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